This is me and my husband's 1st time celebrating Hanukkah (also known as the Feast of Dedication and Festival of Lights) together and we can tell...lol. Next year, Yah willing, we will be better prepared. :-)
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I tried for almost 2 weeks to get a Menorah from this Jewish gift store in the next town over, but either I couldn't get away because of no car or the gift shop owner wasn't there.
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So... this year we have made our own Menorah using 2 glass rectangular candle holders (they hold 8 candles altogether so it works out perfectly) which will be displayed on our fireplace since our living room window doesn't have a window sill. :-)
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I have prayers printed out for these 8 wonderful days to be said after lighting the candles each night.
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I didn't prepare the "traditional" food though (fried doughnuts, latkes, etc) as I totally forgot and money is a bit tight at the moment (come on payday...hurry...lol).
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It's not about the food and gifts given, that's not why Hanukkah is celebrated.
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It's celebrates the triumph of LIGHT over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality.
It's a reminder of the small band of Jewish folks reclaiming the Temple in Jerusalem and rededicating it to YHWH.
It's a reminder of how when this small band of people were rededicating the Temple, they found only a single bit of oil left that the heathens didn't destroy. They used it and it burned for 8 days till new oil could be prepared properly.
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As Christians, we can celebrate the Festival of Lights as we rededicate our lives to Yahshua and acknowledge Him as the perfect and true *light* of this world.
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2 holy days in one day. How blessed we are! :-)
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" And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch." -- John 10:22-23.
How glorious that even our Saviour kept a remembrance of this holy day!
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Well the sunsets in 2.5 hours so I best get scootin' and finish up what I have to before Sabbath begins.
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"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the 7th day, GOD ended His work which He had made and He rested on the 7th day from all His work which He had made.
And GOD blessed and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which GOD created and made." -- Genesis 2:2-3
A blessed Hanukkah and Shabbat to all my readers!
~ Dawn
3 comments:
It was very funny reading this post since we had a hard time finding a menorah. We are doing things a bit low key here after loosing our baby, and money is a little tight here too. We are celebrating starting the 13th which is according to the "corrected date calendar". We posted on that some time back... the date I do not feel is as important, as is, the heart behind the celebration. The other couple of things we like about Hanukkah, is that it is a reminder of YHWH's ability to provide for us when times are tight. Just like he did with the oil. :) And it is a celebration of the Jews defeat of paganism in their land so-to-speak as they cleansed the temple. In the same way we need to look at getting the pagan (or un-Godly) traditions out of our lives.
~Blessings~
Yes, Yah willing next year, we will be more prepared, but we are making do with what we have for now and that's all that matters.
I remember your make shift menorah you all had last year. :)
Me and my husband enjoyed our 1st day of Hanukkah last night and we are looking forward to tonight as well.
He's really excited. Me too of course. :)
Oh...if you want to check out a website for a menorah, look at http://www.menorah.com
It will make your head spin...lol.
http://www.target.com sells menorahs on their website for cheap.
My friend in Anchorage Alaska actually found her menorah in a Target store...imagine that!
http://christianbook.com sells menorahs but not the candles for them (what's up with that...lol).
Ah well, live and learn.
Happy Hanukkah to you and your family dear one.
I love reading your blog. It's so uplifting. I loved reading this post. Hope you are well. God Bless
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